Forced Marriage 2
by Sleeping-force's-inside
Summary: One and a half years have passed since her loss; will they bring change? R & E & R 16th Chapter online! COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

**Category:**** Winx Club**

**Rating:**** M **

**Couples:**** Faragonda/Baltor, Winx/respective-Specialist (which would take to much room to mention all...), maybe Griffin/Codatorta**

**Warnings:**** AU, hints of torture, Character Death, maybe sex **

**Chapter:**** 1**

**Copyright:**** © characters and place by Iginio Straffi; © Plot and OC by me**

**Author's Note:**** Well,** **never say never. After I finished my previous story, My Snake Eyes Ending, I thought I had lost all inspiration for Winx Club (which is why Forced Marriage had such a strange ending; I HAD lost all inspiration for that one), but I guess I was wrong. I merely had intended to view my development over the years when I started to reread my stories, but (after nearly hanging myself for my bad grammar and, now so very obvious, spelling-mistakes and sometimes even horrid writing) suddenly there was a visitor at my door; my Winx-Muse! After hearing her nagging for a month I decided to start writing Winx-story's again. Starting with the ending I in the beginning had intended for Forced Marriage. Since restarting a 'complete' story somehow seems lame to me, I just will start a new one... This one; starting at the end of chapter 7 of what I shall dubb "Forced Marriage Take 1". **

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Pain tore through those ancient walls. The very building groaned as its most powerfull bond was stretched to near breakingpoint. It was this that alerted the students that something terrible had happened. It were their findings that did the same for the Magic Dimension. Faragonda was gone, she had left her school to never return. As the terrible news spread like a drop of ink in a glas of water, many a realm was shocked to its core. When the horrid rumor arose as to why she had, none could believe it. What could have driven her to sell – it was the only word that would fit – herself to Baltor? When the explanation followed, agony was in many a heart. She had been willing to pay so much, for something she would never experience herself. After a few days the waters on Tides became clear and blue again. The Mermonsters returned to their Mermaidselves. On Solaria the rain stopped as the Second sun returned to its rightfull place. Both Countess Cassandra and her daughter Chimera had to find that King Radius was free again and none to pleased when he heard what had happened during his 'black out'. But all the joy which should have come from all of this, was overruled by the terrible price that had been paid for it.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

A soft groan tore through the small room. The woman that had uttered it didn't even realize she had. Her body seemed to burn, like it did every night. Although he had lessened the power of the curse, she sometimes feared it was still stronger then she could handle. At day, in public she had to pretend she was his willingly, that she truly loved him. In private, she was no more then a thing to him. When bored he would search his entertainment with her. Never in a way that left marks, since it somehow wouldn't do when your beloved wife had burns in her face, but in terrible ways nevertheless. At night, she would suffer from this curse, never given even a small reprieve.

"You are pathetic." He was leaning against the doorframe, watching her suffer. "As could have been expected, don't you think?"

Her painclouded eyes fastened on him. For a moment they burned with hate. For a very small moment, until the next wave of liquid fire tore through her veins. She pressed them shut to prevent the tears to roll free. He had seen enough of those already and she would be damned if she did not at least try to hold them at bay.

"Pathetic..." His hand came to rest on her shaking shoulder. "It could already have ended several days ago, my dear Headmistress. You know what I ask of you. Would it be so hard?"

"I would die before I beg you for something." Her voice determined and yet so weak. "You can have much, Baltor, but that is something you shall never gain."

"Then suffer, Faragonda, suffer until everything ends." He left the room without a single glance backwards.

Finally she allowed the strangled sob to break through her lips.


	2. Chapter 2

**Category:**** Winx Club**

**Rating:**** M **

**Couples:**** Faragonda/Baltor, Winx/respective-Specialist (which would take to much room to mention all...), maybe Griffin/Codatorta**

**Warnings:**** AU, hints of torture, Character Death, maybe sex **

**Chapter:**** 2**

**Copyright:**** © characters and place by Iginio ; © Plot and OC by me**

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"What do we do now?" The Winx had gathered in Bloom's room at Alfea.

"Well... I say we simply go on."

"Go on!?" Bloom jumped up from her bed. "Ms. F is taken by Baltor and you wish us to 'simply go on'?"

"What else can we do? She went with him out of her own free will. And even if she did not, we can do nothing..." Flora said.

"Flora is right. Both of them have disappeared from the face of the dimension." Tecna supported the Flower-fairy. "We don't have a choice."

"This sucks..." Stella picked up a pillow and threw it across the room. "We all have our Enchantix, the most powerfull fairy-form there is, and we still couldn't protect her. And we're suppossed to be Gaurdian-fairies one day?"

"Theoretically, yes, but I'm not even sure whether I want that anymore. What use is there being a Gaurdian-fairy only to fail so miserably?"

"Allright! Stop this!" Musa jumped up and looked angrily at her friends. "Do you think Ms. F would have wanted us to throw everything away? Do you really think she wouldn't want us to live?"

"Well..."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

His lips gently landed on hers. How he loved those kisses. In public she had no choice but to return them and he loved how her eyes burned when no one could see them. Like now. They stood in the middle of a groceryshop, mere blocks from their house, and he had been unable to resist the temptation those lips presented. The very temptation SHE presented. Shortly after they had moved here, he finally had admitted it to himself; he desired her. Desired the woman he had only intended to break once. And now she was his, forever...

He allowed his lips to wander across her skin and finally, she showed more than those eyes. Beneath his hand, her muscles tensed. Hidden by the hair of them both her hands tightened in his shirt.

"You're such a wonderful actress, my dear." He pressed a soft kiss against her earlobe, before releasing her. "Now come, I think we have finished our business here, don't you?" He left his arm around her waist while both of them walked to the exit.

As they walked across the streets of the small village, he let his hand drift across her back. Her hair, now hanging loose – and reaching the small of her back, which at first had surprised him, since he always thought it would be shorter – hid his hand as he dug his nails into her flesh.

"Such a wonderful actress, don't you agree?" The moment the door of their house closed behind them, he laughed mockingly as she forcefully freed herself from his arm.


	3. Chapter 3

**Category:**** Winx Club**

**Rating:**** M **

**Couples:**** Faragonda/Baltor, Winx/respective-Specialist (which would take to much room to mention all...), maybe Griffin/Codatorta**

**Warnings:**** AU, hints of torture, Character Death, maybe lemon **

**Chapter:**** 3**

**Copyright:**** © characters and place by Iginio ; © Plot and OC by me**

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

She stared out of the window, dreading what she might see. A black SUV, turning into the driveway and him… him coming out of it.

She had grown tired during the last few days. She couldn't sleep because of that curse at night and couldn't rest because of him at day. And the enchantment he had placed upon her, drew even more energy. Her long hair he had made lightbrown, mere shades darker then his'. After all, it somehow was a taboo on Earth when a woman who looked like she was in her late sixties, was engaged with a man looking like he was in his early thirties.

Her eyes wandered to her finger. The day before he had taken her to a jeweler and they had bought engagement rings. She had been horrified when she realized what that meant. He was utterly claiming her. On the way back he had taunted her with it.

A sigh left her lips as she got up. Only to fall back again. Her body demanded rest. She couldn't give it that. He could arrive any minute. Like her body cared.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

When he entered the living-room he was stunned. Long brown hair spilled down the sofa as the sleeping woman rested on her stomach. Her eyes were closed in clear exhaustion. He silently moved closer, careful to not wake her up. Halfway he stopped. Why was he doing this? Why should he care whether she woke up? She was his! He could do anything he wanted to her! And yet, here he was, silently moving through the room, not wishing her to wake up.

Sinking down next to her he looked into that face. He reverently moved some strands away, gently stroking her cheek.

Why was she asleep anyway? She had never willingly shown weakness to him and she must have known he would be arriving any minute. She truly must have been exhausted…

A soft sound tore his attention back to the woman. One of her hands traveled up and came to rest on her neck. He knew what was underneath. His brand, blood-red and glowing as soon as the sun was gone beneath the western horizon. And suddenly he understood why she had fallen asleep like this. It had been over a week since they had come here and never had she been given a chance to rest.

He didn't understand why he did it himself, but he rested his hand on hers. Another sound left her lips, distressed this time. He ignored it, focusing instead on his own energy he felt pulsing beneath their hands.

A soft sigh left her lips when the pulsing stopped and as he moved his hand away, hers fell down, revealing unmarred skin.


	4. Chapter 4

**Category:**** Winx Club**

**Rating:**** M **

**Couples:**** Faragonda/Baltor, Winx/respective-Specialist (which would take too much room to mention all...), maybe Griffin/Codatorta**

**Warnings:**** AU, hints of torture, Character Death, maybe lemon **

**Chapter:**** 4**

**Copyright:**** © characters and places by Iginio ; © Plot and OC by me**

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Birds were singing outside and the sun peaked in. She slowly opened her eyes and froze…

She was in bed. She was in bed and she very much knew she hadn't moved herself there.

"You tense way to easily, Headmistress." Baltor leaned over her. She grew even more tense with that. "See?"

He grinned when her dark-blue eyes fastened on him. Hate shone inside them again. He forced her on her back. She didn't struggle anymore. She wanted it to be over quickly and knew fighting would prolong it.

"I'm terribly sorry about that, Baltor." She nearly spat the words at him.

"Peace, my Headmistress. No lying, you know that." He moved himself on top of her, effectively trapping her.

"Just shut up, would you? I'm not in the mood for your stupid talk." Faragonda didn't move, but she made sure her hate was clearly visible.

"I know, my dear Headmistress, that's why I do it." He let his hand travel to the side of her face, cupping it. He kissed her violently and, almost in a reflex, she started to struggle against him. He growled when her body brushed against his.

Then suddenly his arousal turned to hate. And her hate turned to fear.

Faragonda almost turned terrified when she saw the change come over him. His eyes darkened, but not with lust. They darkened with hate. She gasped when one of his hands grabbed both her wrists and roughly held them down. The sound of tearing cloth hit her ears. "No…" A soft scream escaped her lips. It would have been a loud one, had he not chosen that very moment to cut off her air-supply.

He looked down on her, all the while thrusting. Her eyes had grown wide and she struggled to free herself of his hand. "Didn't expect this, did you, Headmistress?" He watched as her struggling grew less. He could feel the frantic beating of her heart beneath his hand. How dare she do this to him! He was turning weak, pathetic and now he would put a stop to it. Her eyes fluttered close as she lost consciousness.

For but a few moments his hand remained locked around her neck. Then he froze, his eyes widening as he very nearly jumped off of the bed. What was he doing? He was unable to think properly and fled the house.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

It was late midday when he returned. She was in the kitchen, preparing dinner.

"Do I want to know where you went?" Her voice was somewhat hoarse because of the recent abuse, but it was firm.

"I doubt it, Headmistress." He took some of the waiting tea and settled himself on the kitchen- counter.

"Sadly however, I do know..." She looked at him while washing the vegetables. "You had sex. A whore?"

He chuckled and nodded.

"But why would you visit a whore, when you have me?" She stood in front of him, indicating he was in the way.

"Because doing it would have made this liaison so final." Baltor obediently moved aside.

"You killed her." It was no question, it was a statement.

"Your perception is as good as always, my dear Headmistress. Care to share more with me?"

"She looked exactly like me." Another statement. And Baltor was shocked to say the least.

"How do you know that?" He gripped her arm with his hand and spun her around. Using his body he pressed her against the counter.

"Do you think me stupid, Baltor? I might be old, I might be magicless, but I´m not stupid! You tried to kill me this very morning, and when I lose consciousness you leave. You then come home and tell me you killed a whore. You killed a whore, so you wouldn´t kill me." During her speech her voice faltered occasionally, but Faragonda couldn´t care less. She looked up defiantly. "She looked like me..."


	5. Chapter 5

**Category:**** Winx Club**

**Rating:**** M **

**Couples:**** Faragonda/Baltor, Winx/respective-Specialist, Griffin/Codatorta**

**Warnings:**** AU, hints of torture, Character Death, maybe lemon **

**Chapter:**** 5**

**Copyright:**** © characters and places by Iginio; © Plot and OC by me**

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

In the following months, Baltor retreated ever further away from her. Not that she minded really, but it left her vexed none the less. He hardly touched her either. Yet to her horror she had to find that although that escapade – could one call it that? – was not the only one. In the next two months he would do the same another five times she was aware of. And she had the terrible feeling she wasn't aware of all of them. Every time he now left the house she couldn't help but wonder whether he again would kill another girl. Knowing she couldn't do anything about it she tried to distract herself by befriending the people in her street. It was easy enough. Although she no longer possessed the motherly looks to which her students and friends had been drawn, she still was considered warm and friendly.

"That is a wonderful necklace, Sharise. It must have been unbelievably expensive!" Faragonda sat on the patio of one of her neighbors. Around the small table she sat at were two other women. Sharise – the neighbor in question – a young half-Asian with stunning cat-green eyes, who had also just recently moved here and Claire, a somewhat older German who reminded her a awful lot of Stella, not only because of her looks, but also because of her behavior, who had been born here and had taken the two new arrivals under her wing.

"Nonsense," Sharise moved her long black hair aside so her friends could see it clearer. "Hugo made it during that Jewel-Making-Course he's taking with your males." All three smiled at that. It had been one of the few occasions involving Baltor where Faragonda had truly laughed. Hugo, Sharise's husband, had lost a bet with someone and now had to follow a 'Girly-course'. Although she couldn't quite understand how metal-working could be considered 'Girly'.

Because Sven, Claire's husband, had felt sorry for him, he had joined in and the both of them had pulled Baltor along for the ride. She had nearly been doubled over in laughter when the two in total seriousness had told her they would return him 'safe and sound'. Baltor had looked ready to skin them both.

"Has any of you gotten anything yet? Faragonda, you surely have to have gotten something, Baltor is so talented! " Sharise gently shoved the other woman.

"Sadly, no, I have not." Faragonda thought it wiser not to tell them why the chance she would get anything from Baltor was even smaller then the chance people could walk into the sun. "But what about you, Claire? Has Sven gotten you anything?"

"Heavens no! You know how terrible he's doing. The only reason he actually participates still is because his two friends are still there. And because it makes Baltor stand out even more."

Faragonda laughed along, but not heartedly. Baltor indeed was talented in that aspect, she had seen it herself, but somewhere she wondered whether it all was talent or whether there was some magic in it too. Not that it would matter, but it was painful to think he had access to such minute and detailed magic while she still was as magical as a brick wall.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"Baltor?" He turned at the sound of his name and looked at the speaker.

"Yes?" His face remained emotionless when the small man joined him. He looked down into the other man's eyes. As usual the other quickly looked away. Now he smiled. "Seriously, why can't you look me in the eye? What did you want?"

The other man seemed to give himself a mental shake before gesturing to the table they were standing next to. It held all of the work Baltor had created during the course. "You are talented, Baltor. In fact, I may say you are my most gifted student ever."

"Thank you, but that can hardly be why you wanted me to wait until everyone else was gone." Baltor lifted one of his rings for closer inspection. The left pearl was off. He would need to fix that next time. He had been ready to curse the other two into the next millennium when they had dragged him here, but he found he enjoyed it immensely. It kept him occupied enough so he didn't need to think about Faragonda and exactly what kind of change had come over him. And he didn't even need to cheat to be good at it.

"As you might be aware I do not solemnly earn my money with this. I do this for fun. I wish to give people the chance to try something new and maybe, find the true thing for them, if you get my meaning. So they maybe one day become what I am now…"

"A very famous jeweler." Baltor added without looking away from the ring. He started to frown when he realized not the pearl, but the entire left side was off. How could that have happened?

"Very well, if you say so."

"Everyone says so. Hell, you make the jewels of Celebrities. Royals even…" Baltor put down the ring. Now turning his full attention to the man next to him he frowned some more. "People stand in rows to merely SEE you and your work. Queens pray they may one day be allowed to wear it."

The other man smiled. "They do, don't they? Anyway, you are talented, Baltor, very talented."

"So?"

"I would like you to work for me."

Baltor's mouth fell open as he stared at the other man.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"It has been months…" Griffin looked at the man next to her. "Months…"

At first it seemed as if he hadn't even heard her. He kept staring at the empty chair in front of them. It had been empty for a very long time. The entire office had been empty for very long. After about two months, they were the first to set foot into it.

"No news is good news, Griffin." When he spoke Saladin's voice sounded as old as he was. "Had she died, Baltor would be raging around the dimension again."

"Hooray…" Griffin looked sadly at the chair. Faragonda and she had been enemies from the first moment they laid eyes upon each other. Oh, they had fought alongside of each other when there had been need and in the last few years, since the Trix in fact, they had had a competitive friendship. But only now she realized how much she had meant to her.

'One always realizes the worth of something only when it is gone.' She thought before turning to leave. The emptiness was like a physical pain to her. Saladin followed suit.

When they walked out of the building, she couldn't help but wince. Like she did every time, like everyone else did every time, when setting eye upon the Fairy-school. All three schools had souls, yet with some it was more prominent then others. Usually that 'more prominent' fell to Cloudtower with its changing walls, but now…

Alfea suffered. Gravely… the once shining colors were now dull and grey, as if seen through a haze. No matter how much Knut tried to oil them, the doors screeched whenever they were moved. Neither she nor Saladin had ever witnessed such a suffering. Of course there was the occasional death of a Head, but the school immediately bonded with a new Head, thus the suffering was only minimal. For a short time it might be reduced to the state Alfea was in now, but then it would return to normal.

Griffin shuddered when an unbidden question came to her. When Alfea reacted like this when she had left, how would it react when Faragonda died? Because that somehow was beyond doubt: Faragonda wouldn't last long now she lived with Baltor.


	6. Chapter 6

**Category:**** Winx Club**

**Rating:**** M **

**Couples:**** Faragonda/Baltor, Winx/respective-Specialist, Griffin/Codatorta**

**Warnings:**** AU, hints of torture, Character Death, maybe lemon **

**Chapter:**** 6**

**Copyright:**** © characters and places by Iginio; © Plot and OC by me**

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

While the months on Earth were as full of events as the skies of fish, the Magical Dimension was as full of them as always.

Bloom stood there, simply watching the two people she and her friends had just saved from the Obsidian Circle. It nearly had turned into a disaster, but a very timely interference from Daphne had prevented it. The price however had been high; Hagen, the sword-smith of the Company of Light had sacrificed himself to give Bloom the chance to free herself to end the battle in her favor. The blow that was Faragonda's loss had been too great for him to live on. The Winx strongly believed he had held their Headmistress very dear at the least and loved her at the most. What had happened to the three Ancestral Witches none could tell. It could be that the final attack of Bloom and Daphne combined ended their existences as it had their prison, but it also could not be so.

Around them their planet, long incased in a never-ending winter, came to life again. Neither noticed as they only could stare at each other. It was the woman so alike in looks to her that broke the silence first.

"Bloom?" Her voice was rough from long disuse, but filled with hope and love. As Bloom could only nod, they fell into each other's arms and cried together in joy.

Many well-wishes, visitors and gifts arrived over the course of the next days, from every realm, every person of station. They came from every person but one. And her lack was made acutely aware when her two colleagues came a week after the returning of spring to Sparx, but without her…

"Where is Faragonda?" It was Oritel who breached the subject every one desired so much not to be breached.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Miriam frowned when she caught the sudden tension in the room. A quick glance sideways told her Oritel had noticed too.

"What happened?" His voice was growing tense. "What is going on here?"

Saladin sighed. "She is gone."

"She died?" Miriam couldn't believe it. "Faragonda died?"

"Worse…" Griffin turned towards the window overlooking the gardens. "Baltor holds her."

"What?" That one word held all the disbelief, denial and horror a person could feel. Where her husband had managed to voice his feelings, Miriam was silent, unable to form a word.

It was Bloom who had to tell her parents the horrific fate that had befallen one of their dearest friends.

That day Sparx was black, mourning alongside of its' Queen and King.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"Tell me again why we had to take the train?" Faragonda looked at the man next to her. His arm rested around her shoulders. His hand stroked her arm. She was constantly fighting the urge to shrug it off.

"How else would we have gotten to New York without spending millions on fuel?" Baltor smiled lightly at the woman next to him.

"We both know that that is a blatant lie." She hissed into his ear. "You could easily refill the tank of that monster of yours again and again without even having to do so much as snipping a finger. So why?"

He grinned and used his other hand to pull her face to his. His eyes glittered with mirth when he pressed his lips against hers.

"My my, you're snippy this morning, my dear." Baltor settled back again and turned to look out of the window at the passing landscape. "I think it quite nice to not be the one behind the steering wheel."

"I could have done that." Her voice held that etch it always gained after a kiss.

"And then drive us of some cliff? No thanks…" This time it was he who hissed into her ear. "Don't fool me, Faragonda; you would do that if you got the chance."

"Can you blame me?" She turned her head away and let her gaze fall on their combined suitcases. "You did this on purpose."

Baltor laughed. When Cian, his employer, had sought for a representative on some exhibition he had volunteered. Thus the result being a twenty-hour ride to New York. "Of course, a change of scenery would do us good. Don't you agree, my dear?"

She huffed, but didn't answer.

Another hour passed in this fashion. She shrugged his arm of and got up.

"I'm hungry. Should I get you something too?"

"That won't be necessary, thank you."

Just as she started to walk towards the door, everything happened very fast. Even too fast for his magic-enhanced reflexes.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Magix was shocked awake by a terrible scream. High-pitched and inhuman it sounded through the dark night. A pink glow illuminated the black sky to a brightness that would have made the birds sing, because they would have thought it dawn. If they had not been scared away by that scream.

Two persons shot up in their beds, clawing at their chests. The woman could not contain a scream at the agony originating from her heart. The man suffered in silence.

As the pain abated, both heard the screams coming from outside their rooms. Horror-filled, terrified, unknowing of the tragedy.


	7. Chapter 7

**Category:**** Winx Club**

**Rating:**** M **

**Couples:**** Faragonda/Baltor, Winx/respective-Specialist, Griffin/Codatorta**

**Warnings:**** AU, hints of torture, Character Death, maybe lemon **

**Chapter:**** 7**

**Copyright:**** © characters and places by Iginio; © Plot and OC by me**

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

When the pain finally abated, Griffin turned towards the eastern window of her bedroom. Through the dark-red glass she could still see the pink glow.

She could not believe what had happened just now. It simply was not possible.

Gingerly she rose and moved towards the grand doors leading towards her balcony. Her hand trembled when she pushed them open.

Another scream – softer, but just as pain filled – shook the window she had to lean against. She did not notice the pain originating from her ears. She could only stare at the origin of the glow. Someone entered her rooms and she couldn't care less about that breach of her privacy. Her golden eyes reflected the pink tentacles swiping through the air. A hand gripped her arm and shook her.

The shaking became worse, but she was simply unable to tear her gaze away from Alfea.

'Now I have my answer.' She tore her arm out of the grasp of the other. Green light, nearly invisible in the pink, was all that remained of her.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Saladin had recognized the pain the moment it began. He had felt it before: twenty years ago, when Griffin had become Headmistress of Cloudtower.

Now black eyes gazed from his bed towards the building in the distance. There, as the origin of the screams, tentacles and the glow, lay Alfea.

He swallowed as he rose. He felt the weight of all his years upon him. While never looking away from the scene in front of his window, he reached for his staff.

Even here, in Red Fountain, he could hear the sound of breaking wood. The tentacles were very much real.

"Uncle!" Helia stood in the door. The only one able to enter the private quarter's of the Red Fountain-Head without his leave. "What is happening?"

Saladin kept staring out of the window.

"I know not, Helia." He was lying; he very much knew what was happening.

"I have to go there." Only now the older man turned away and gazed upon the other. His face was an unreadable mask.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Outside the gates of Alfea was a large group of people. All three schools were completely present: Alfea, because they all had literally been thrown out of the building, Read Fountain and Cloudtower, because they wanted to know what was happening.

The problem in the entire thing was that only two seemed to know. And both were currently unreachable.

Near the well were the only people to whom the tentacles were no more than light and air.

Safely held by Sky, Bloom could clearly see how Lady Griffin swayed on her feet.

She screamed her surprise when the other's legs seemed to give way. An anguished cry was barely audible as the witch collapsed on the ground. Fists hammered on it while she voiced a grief so terrible it was beyond compare.

The man next to her seemed not to hear or see her. He seemed like a statue.

It seemed like hours when finally someone spoke. "I'm going in." Helia had not moved since arriving with his uncle and the rest of Red Fountain.

"You can't, Alfea will throw you out before you even set a step." Tecna gestured towards the tentacles still swiping through the air. "The force with which they would hit you is equivalent to that of five sledgehammers."

"Not to me." And with that the gentle poet turned towards the gates. After taking a deep breath, he stepped onto the grounds of Alfea.

The change was immediate: instead of blindly wiping through the air, the tentacles targeted the intruder. He was surrounded by a pink glow, but they could not throw him out. Although it did feel as if a storm wind had hit him. And that feeling remained up until he had reached his target and laid his hand on the shoulder of the man.

Helia tried to discern anything n the eyes of his uncle, but it seemed impossible. They looked... death.

"Uncle?" he felt tremors run through the other.

"Alfea grieves." Even his voice was death.

"What for?" A feel of terrible dread overcame him. Bile started to rise in his throat.

"Faragonda." Griffin looked up from her place on the ground. Her eyes were red rimmed and silvery tracks were prove from where tears had run down her cheeks. "She is death. Alfea mourns the death of her Headmistress."

Now Helia felt like he had been hit with a sledgehammer. He certainly would have preferred that to this news.

Instantly his mind's eye was filled with memories of her. When he had been younger, he had called her aunt. Both she and Saladin had thought it extremely funny. But which 3-year-old could properly pronounce the name 'Faragonda'? The name stuck and he sometimes still called her that, but only when he wanted to express his fondness of her.

He recalled her smile whenever he did that. The sparkle which always appeared in her eyes. When his mother had died when he had been 7, it was she who pulled the family through. When he had wished to become an artist, rather than a warrior, it was she who had urged him to tell his uncle and who had stood by him during that conversation.

He remembered her reaction when he had announced he had a girlfriend. Commenting on how long it had taken them to get together. How she had said that her first thought on Flora had been what a perfect girlfriend she would be for him.

"I... they don't know... Someone has to tell them..."

"Someone has to..." Griffin turned her head towards the window which had been the one where her friend – oh yes, friend – had often stood.

She did not move when Helia struggled to his feet. His walk was swaying as if drunk. The tentacles had long receded into the building, whose colours had turned to grey. No live was left in hose walls.

When he stumbled for the umpteenth time, arms caught him.

It was the smell of roses which brought him back to his senses. Flora's concerned face was in front of his.

His voice was filled with indescribable pain. "Faragonda is death."


	8. Chapter 8

**Category:**** Winx Club**

**Rating:**** M **

**Couples:**** Faragonda/Baltor, Winx/respective-Specialist, Griffin/Codatorta**

**Warnings:**** AU, hints of torture, Character Death, maybe lemon **

**Chapter:**** 8**

**Copyright:**** © characters and places by Iginio; © Plot and OC by me**

**Author's Note: ****For all people who might not understand what's going on: Baltor holds the Dragonfire as well. So I figured he also holds the Flame of Live (part of Dragonfire that gave Bloom her healing-powers). The description is the Flame of Live awakening in a Baltor-version of Bloom's (for references see season 2 the episode where the Trix gain the first part of the Codex). **

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

He felt as if his arm was on fire. A pained groan sounded in the silence when he forced his eyes open.

Stars twinkled above him, occasionally being veiled by clouds passing by. As he struggled to sit upright, pain shot through his chest. Light-blue eyes widened in horror while he looked around him.

The train-unit was lying on its' side, the windows shattered. Bodies lay everywhere, some unconscious, yet most death.

He himself had been one of the lucky ones, suffering – in comparison to most – minor injuries: his left arm was broken in several places, his left leg was dislocated at the hip, his right wrist was sprained and one of his ribs cracked. But beside those, he had suffered merely some cuts and bruises.

Although he had planned and executed entire genocides, Baltor was horrified by the scene, when one was killed b magic it took a lot to get visible injuries, but now he was staring at a bloody massacre.

Yet nothing could have prepared him for the feeling which made his heart stop when he caught sight of a dark-green dress. Dark-green and red…

He knew the moment when he looked into her face that she was death. She looked shocked, her mouth and eyes opened in a silent scream. The right side of her body was one open wound, her blood forming a pool beneath her.

"Faragonda?"

Off course she didn't answer. Off course he had not expected it. But he had hoped it.

His heart was beating again, but this time a dagger rested in it. A jagged, rusted and cruel dagger was twisting ever deeper into his flesh. And finally, although too late perhaps, Baltor realized the change which had come over him; love… He had loved her. Knowing the pain merely increased it. He screamed the agony that was his being. It was unbearable.

Suddenly something stirred inside of him: a heat spread through his body. A blue glow surrounded his body and his hair rose as if gravity had lost all hold on it. Raw power flooded his being and a flame rested in his hand. His other rested on her chest and the moment she stirred it fell off.

He had lost consciousness and now lay next to the woman he had just pulled from the death. His right hand had fallen of her chest and now rested on hers.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"Come on." Codatorta gently lead the Headmistress of Cloudtower to her bedroom. While he was doing that the most terrible news ever was spread across the dimension. "Come on, My Lady."

He frowned when she did not react in any way. Like every other inhabitant of Magix he had heard the rumors of the powerful bond between the three schools and their Heads. About how they could recognize each other, even when they looked completely different. Now he wondered exactly how deep that bond ran.

He steered her to her bed and laid her down. It was when he turned to leave that she spoke.

"Stay…" Her golden eyes were filled with pain. "Please…"

It was so strange to hear her beg, that he obliged without a second thought.

"It felt like a dagger was put in my heart… when she died it felt like that… and that sound! Like tearing flesh… when the bond broke it was as if someone was torn apart! Oh… they had warned me it would be like this… they had… but… but… it was so much worse!" Sobs escaped her lips as the dam broke anew and Griffin wept.

Had she not been so distressed Codatorta would have never dared to do what he did, but as it was she welcomed the comfort he offered.

He rocked her back and forth as if she was a little girl. And she wept on his shoulder.


	9. Chapter 9

**Category:**** Winx Club**

**Rating:**** M **

**Couples:**** Faragonda/Baltor, Winx/respective-Specialist, Griffin/Codatorta**

**Warnings:**** AU, hints of torture, Character Death, maybe lemon **

**Chapter:**** 9**

**Copyright:**** © characters and places by Iginio; © Plot and OC by me**

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

She woke to voices she didn't know. Sentences she didn't quite catch.

"Miracle… so much blood… miracle… husband…"

Her eyes were closed and she couldn't open them.

"Stabile… miracle… worse… so much better…"

Miracle? What was a miracle? She? What had happened? Her body felt like it was made of lead, so heavy…

"surgery… legs… weak…"

What were they talking about? Her? A door opened and another set of feet approached. She managed to peel open her eyes.

A warm voice spoke to her, speaking slowly so she catches it all. "How are you?"

"What?" Her voice shocked her. Why was it so raw?

"You were involved in a train-crash. Do you remember?"

"I… think…" She looked up, suddenly missing a face above her. "Where…?"

"Your husband is in surgery, he soon will be here again."

She felt something pull at her, dragging her towards an abyss. The last thing she heard was that warm voice. "That's right, sleep…"

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

When she woke again she felt stronger, not better, but definitely stronger. And she finally had time to look around her and sort things out.

There was only one other bed in the room, right across from hers. She blinked, blinked again and felt her mouth fall open. Dirty blond hair spilled across the white pillow, framing a face whose whiteness rivaled that of the pillow.

"What?" His voice was sharp. "Never seen me before?"

"You… here?"

"No, it's my ghost… Of course I'm here!" Baltor bit at her, irritated.

"No need to yell at me." She retorted.

"I yell at you whenever I want, Headmistress." He answered. "And now hush, we have visitors."

She shot him one last hateful look, before reluctantly obeying. She was no match for him and neither were the innocents he might take his anger out on should she disobey.

And indeed, seconds later, the doctors came in to give them a thorough checking, during which Faragonda learned that she had been unconscious for two weeks and had only woken for short periods of time.

Baltor took up a discussion he had had several times already, at least from the look on the doctor's face. Apparently he was winning this time.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

This had been a blow none could deal with. She was death, Faragonda was death. Grief soon turned to outrage. Against Baltor, for taking her, against her colleagues, for letting her go, against fate itself, for allowing this to happen.

Alfea lay in ruins. Its' students had left, unable to bear the memories. Its' teachers had scattered, their anchor to it destroyed.

After a few days the school looked as if she had been uninhabited for centuries. Bright blue and pink had turned to grey. Flowers and grass alike had withered away, leaving no live in between those walls.

This was the image greeting Griffin and Saladin when they visited it on last time. Already their schools were suffering grave losses, even the witches being affected by the latest loss.

"When will he return, you think?" Griffin asked the other, both their gazes locked on the former Headmistress' office.

"Soon or never." Saladin swallowed. "She would have done anything in her power to pull him with her."

"Would that have been enough? For all we know she held no magic…"

"We have to hope, Griffin, that is all we can do."


	10. Chapter 10

**Category:**** Winx Club**

**Rating:**** M **

**Couples:**** Faragonda/Baltor, Winx/respective-Specialist, Griffin/Codatorta**

**Warnings:**** AU, hints of torture, Character Death, maybe lemon **

**Chapter:**** 10**

**Copyright:**** © characters and places by Iginio; © Plot and OC by me**

**Author's Note:**** I found out this month I just got the greatest compliment of all! Thank you, person-whom-I-shall-not-name-but-who-definitely-knows-I-mean-him/her, for copying part of my story! I feel honored! **

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

A few days later, both of them were discharged, after the doctors had been sufficiently surprised at the speed with which both of them had been healed.

"Faragonda! Baltor!" Sharise, Claire, Sven and Hugo had waited for them to come out of the building. "Thank the heavens you came, I was getting worried!"

"Sharise, there absolutely is no need for that." Baltor smiled when she buried Faragonda in a hug. "But we aren't that fast on our feet yet."

"Indeed! I'm surprised they even let you try you swiftness on your feet." Sven gently ushered them towards the car. "Let's get you home, shall we?"

He gallantly helped the woman in the car, before gesturing Baltor should sit down next to her.

"We really should be grateful you own a station-wagon." Claire climbed in next to Faragonda and briefly squeezed the other's hand.

"I told you it was a good idea to buy it." Hugo grinned.

"Off course! It is, after all, a habit to go and pick up people on the other side of the States. It happens so often that I'm surprised I forgot!" Faragonda commented dryly. She smiled sweetly when Hugo glared at her when the others laughed.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"Thanks for driving us home." Baltor whispered. Although she still loathed him, Faragonda's head rested on his shoulder, the trip down the coast having exhausted her.

The others merely smiled at him, unwilling to risk waking her up by talking.

He tenderly carried her inside, using the fact Sven couldn't scold him in his advantage. Sharise carried their few belongings after him.

Only when they had returned to their own houses, he gave into despair. Sinking into his favorite armchair he drank in her features, already feeling the sting of what was to come.

Her face was peaceful, as if she wasn't even aware he was in the same room.

His eyes shimmered with emotion when they traveled from her to the painting in the corner of the room. It showed a meadow filled with flowers. Slowly he rose again, approaching it. A sigh escaped his lips when he laid eyes upon the one feature which seemed out of place; a sunflower rose from amidst the others, towering over them.

He rested his hand on its center and where he touched it, the painting melted away, leaving only a gap in the wall and a now empty frame.

The gap opened to a hidden compartment, in which there were only five boxes, each made out of dark oak. He reached inside and moved one of the bigger ones, revealing a small box, different from the others. It seemed to be made of black stone and yet warm to the touch. He carefully cradled it in his hand. It felt as if he held a heart, pulsing with a calm and steady heartbeat.

"Faragonda." He gently shook her. "Wake up, my dear."

She blinked several times and then focused on him. He saw her lips open to speak, but he rested his finger on them, silently marveling at how soft they were.

"No, now I speak and you won't interrupt me. This…" he rested the box in front of her. "is for you. If you leave, I will hold our bargain as still fulfilled."

He rose without another word. When he stepped outside he noticed it had started to snow. How ironic…

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

She blinked again before moving to sit upright. The small box lay in front of her, seemingly begging her to pick it up. Much like he had, she felt the pulsing of a heart, now excited and fast. She carefully rose from the couch to pull the curtains closed.

On her way back to the couch she noticed the disappeared painting, but chose to ignore it in favor of his gift.

"What are you?" she whispered. "Why would he give you to me?"

Her hand trembled slightly when she lifted it up and studied it. Gingerly she removed the frail lid and found herself staring at a black pool. She gasped when she realized what it was.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

His eyes narrowed when he saw someone approaching and that someone was wearing a coat lined with white fur. He knew that coat, but it couldn't be here! She couldn't be here! And yet, when the cloak came closer he could see the face of the one wearing it and he recognized it. She truly was here, but why? Why had she not left?


	11. Chapter 11

**Category:**** Winx Club**

**Rating:**** M **

**Couples:**** Faragonda/Baltor, Winx/respective-Specialist, Griffin/Codatorta**

**Warnings:**** AU, ****hints of torture****, Character Death, maybe (but not likely) lemon **

**Chapter:**** 11**

**Copyright:**** © characters and places by Iginio; © Plot and OC by me**

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

She yelped in surprise when hands pulled her from the path. A strong body pressed her against the tree, while a hand clamped down over her mouth.

"Why are you here?" His voice dripped with venom. His eyes were cold as ice while they regarded her.

She pried his hand off of her face. "To talk."

"What is there to talk?" he stepped back, giving her room again.

"A lot." Faragonda crossed her arms in front of her chest, looking every bit the headmistress she once was. "You were always easy to understand, Baltor, but this last act – releasing me like this – makes that I do not understand you at all anymore. So, why? Why did you do this?"

"Why should you care? Is it not enough I did?" He started to walk away, only to sense her following him. "Leave."

"No, not until you tell me why. Why are you so eager to see me gone?"

He did not answer, merely quickening his step.

"Baltor, answer me!" She blocked his path. "What happened here during this year that I missed? What changed you so?"

Again he did not answer, merely pushing her aside. Yet he froze when she spoke again.

"I was death, Baltor. I died and yet I stand here. I know I was not saved by conventional means. And the only unconventional means around me all this time was your Dragonfire. What happened, Baltor, that you would save my life only to release me?"

He spun around, locking eyes with her.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"What is taking her so long?" Griffin rested her hand on her chest, where there was a painful emptiness. "Why does Alfea not re-bond?"

Saladin too felt that pain. It was the pain of loss. After her death, the pain that had warned them of it had subsided, but it had not gone completely. As long as Alfea did not re-bond it would remain. "I cannot tell for certain, but Faragonda was Headmistress of Alfea for a long time, since before even I was born. A bond grows stronger with time. It would have felt devastating to Alfea to lose it."

"I realize that, but mourning for a month? She does not even react when we contact her, Saladin. What if she died with Faragonda?"

"Schools do not die while their building stands, Griffin. Alfea needs time and so we shall give it to her." Saladin said, breaking off any discussion before it could even start. "Codatorta goes missing quite often lately."

The witch blinked a few times, trying to catch how her partner came from a mourning school to a missing teacher. "I don't understand."

"Let me revise my comment then; Codatorta visits Cloudtower quite often lately." A small and weak twinkle of amusement appeared in the older man's eye as he watched his younger colleague.

"So? What do I care your teacher has a fancy for my school?" A faint blush belied the haughtiness she displayed.

"Your school? Griffin, I am old, but not THAT old. I have not forgotten what it feels like to be desired and to desire in return. Codatorta has taken a fancy for you, not the cold walls that make your school." He smiled. "Yet, although he visits often, he rarely smiles these days."

Merely her eyebrow rose at that.

"Alright, even rarer than usual. What happens in your school, Griffin? Why is Codatorta suffering silently? Even the students begin to notice something is wrong with him."

"It is nothing…" Griffin turned away.

"Nothing does not make my only teacher depressed, does not make you feel guilty." Saladin gently, but firmly turned her again. "You always trusted Faragonda with everything, Griffin, so why don't you trust me now? What is happening between the two of you?"

"He desires me…" Griffin fell silent.

"And that is a problem, because…?" The wizard prompted.

"I feel guilty. My best friend is death, her body being Dragon knows where and I am being courted and enjoying it!"

"Oh Griffin…" Saladin sighed. "This friend is Faragonda. She last of all would judge a love, you know this. Death will not have changed that. Why not enjoy what is being thrown at your feet? If I know Codatorta – and believe me, I do – him courting you will be nothing short of epic."

"But…"

"Griffin, do not make me pull rank on you!"

She blinked again. "You can't do that, we're both Head-teachers!"

"I am your senior! I have almost 2 centuries on my name, and you barely two decades. Go to Codatorta, Griffin, accept him. I will not have both of you in the same state Alfea is in. Go!"

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

His lips where hot on hers and his desire burned in his every touch. She had expected much, but not this, not this burning desire. His hands had her firmly pressed against his body, using enough force to leave bruises. When she gasped his tongue demanded and received entrance.

What was happening to them? Where had this fire come from? Why did she allow this? She was supposed to blast him, curse him and not let him! What madness was this?


	12. Chapter 12

**Category:**** Winx Club**

**Rating:**** M **

**Couples:**** Faragonda/Baltor, Winx/respective-Specialist, Griffin/Codatorta**

**Warnings:**** AU, ****hints of torture****, Character Death, maybe (but not likely) lemon **

**Chapter:**** 12**

**Copyright:**** © characters and places by Iginio; © Plot and OC by me**

**Author's Note:**** I have another Poll. Please vote! I don't want another instance of only one voter once the time's over. Also, don't get any heart-attacks while reading this, please. I would hate to be sued…**

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

„You should be glad I understand your reasons." Codatorta was pressing her against the wall of his apartment. "Otherwise you would have found yourself in quite some trouble."

Griffin looked at him. His eyes were burning, a frown graced his brow. "Would you have expected me to act differently? Should I have acted differently?"

He gently released her, rubbing where he had crushed her arms in his hands. "No…"

With gentle force he led her to the couch. "What made you change your mind like this?"

"Saladin…" She looked at the hands resting in her lap. "He opened my eyes."

Codatorta snorted and lifted her chin to look at him. "We have time, Griffin. There is no need to hurry."

"Are you certain?" She looked away again. "A live can end swiftly, Codatorta. Look at Faragonda; one moment she was celebrating a victory, and not a year later she lies death."

"And that means we should hurry? Yes, she died, yes, that is terrible… But tell me; would she want grief to be the answer? You need time, Griffin."

"Indeed. Dragon knows I'm turning into a fairy here." She smiled weakly. "Bloody Hell, look at me! I'm having a love-talk here!"

He laughed. "Being evil does not mean you can't feel love. Being evil means abusing the love of others."

Her eyebrow rose. "Don't dare to give me lessons on what is evil and what is not."

"I wouldn't dare." He closed the gap between them and kissed her forcefully.

Griffin would have gasped as he lifted her body closer to his, his arms locking around her waist. But his mouth was on hers, drowning any noise she could have made at that point…

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

She was breathing heavily when he pulled back. Her eyes were widened, being dominated by shock and surprise. He kept his arms around her waist and his eyes never strayed from hers.

She stared at him, searching for something in his steady gaze.

"This is why?" She asked after a while.

He nodded, now turning his gaze away from her, releasing her.

"You… _love_… me?" Faragonda reached up, turning his face back to her. "Love? Is that why you did these things?"

There was now anguish in his face, as he nodded. Light blue was unable to meet deep blue.

Only when she moved back did he look up. She seemed as if she was about to hyperventilate, her hand resting on her chest. When her legs threatened to give way he caught her, a strange feeling rising in his chest when she did not tense upon contact.

"We need to talk." Her voice was firm again, only a slight quiver. "If this is supposed to work, we'll have to talk."

"This?" He looked down, somehow unwilling to release her. She looked up. "Faragonda, you had your answer. Leave."

For a moment she bit her lip. A very endearing gesture in his eyes. But then she shook her head. "No, I'm staying, Baltor. I won't return. Ever…"

He froze upon hearing these words. Shock and disbelieve warred inside of him for supremacy. Disbelieve won. "What?"

"I will not return to Magix or even the Magical Dimension. I can't."

"What?" He repeated, before spinning her around. "What are you talking about? Of course you can! You will!" He nearly cursed when he saw the determination in her eyes. She was serious about this. But why?

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"Bloom?" Miriam gently pushed open the doors to her daughter's room. "Are you in here?"

She found her youngest daughter on the balcony. "You're going to miss dinner if you don't come down."

The young fairy turned to her mother, eyes sad. "Did you ever have nightmares? About when you did things wrong?"

"Sometimes, yes, I did." The queen steered her daughter inside. "Why? Is something wrong?"

"I don't sleep well." Bloom sat down on her bed. "I'm having nightmares."

Miriam sat down next to her, gently slinging her arm around the slender frame. "Obsidian?"

Bloom shook her head. "No. Miss F…"

"You're having nightmares about Faragonda?"

Bloom sighed. "I know it's silly and stupid and I know she wouldn't say the things she's saying in my dreams, but that doesn't stop me from feeling like she's right."

"All right, why don't you start from the beginning?" Miriam squeezed her daughter. "Dinner will have to wait."

"Well, they all come down on the same. I'm having a nice dream, until somehow I end up at a point where Miss F gets involved. Going to Alfea or something like that. And from then on it's always the same; everything turns dark, until she's the only thing besides me present. Then she'll start to accuse me of preferring to find you –while you're in no life-threatening situation – over saving her – being in a life-threatening situation – and that goes on and on no matter what I say or do. And then she gets sucked away from me, and although I reach for her, even run towards her I can't get to her. Out of the dark comes an image of Baltor and he burns Miss F, while she's screaming for my aid."

Miriam hugged Bloom. "I'm sorry you have to go through something like this. Just remember, she would never say such things."

"I know she wouldn't, but that doesn't stop me from feeling guilty nonetheless." Bloom leaned into the hug. "I could have searched for her. I can sense Baltor, but instead of using that to find them I used my time to find you. And now it's too late!"


	13. Chapter 13

**Category:**** Winx Club**

**Rating:**** M **

**Couples:**** Faragonda/Baltor, Winx/respective-Specialist, Griffin/Codatorta**

**Warnings:**** AU, ****hints of torture****, ****Character Death****, hints of lemon **

**Chapter:**** 13**

**Copyright:**** © characters and places by Iginio; © Plot and OC by me**

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

She panted. "Making love not an hour after we became something akin to a couple is 'taking it slow'?"

He chuckled. "I said that we could take it slow, not that we would. You didn't seem to mind." He propped himself up, looking down on her. "Or did you?"

She smiled, toying with the lose strands now cascading over the pillow. "If I did, you would have noticed. Painfully…" She playfully kicked him, but he caught her foot and pulled her closer to him.

"You failed, Headmistress." He pushed her down. "Try again."

An energy-ball appeared in front of his eyes. "You said?"

He laughed. "Touché, Headmistress, touché. I never knew you had such humor."

"I have humor, but not enough to forgive you should you tell anyone how I act around you. You are ruining me!"

He growled. "And I intend to do much more."

"Hopefully in your spare time." Both their heads whipped around to the owner of the third voice.

"Saladin!" Griffin cried. "What are you doing here?"

"This is still my school, Griffin, and you kept my sole teacher from his job. What do you think?" Saladin turned to Codatorta. "You are away on sudden family business, which is why the students got no warning for your absence. But this is the last time I cover for you. Next time you'll have to explain your absence yourself."

He turned to leave. "I wish you two all the luck you'll need."

Both Griffin and Codatorta were silent for a moment after he left, before Griffin started to giggle uncontrollably. Soon she was laughing outright, not the evil laugh of a witch, but the truly heartfelt one of someone amused by what happened.

"You think this is funny?" Codatorta watched her with interest. He had never seen her laugh like this.

"Of course it is. He walked in on us, Codatorta." She snickered. "Your boss walked in on us and Dragon knows how long he was waiting outside for us to finish."

She calmed herself. "I wonder if he felt anything."

"The Bond of the Schools?" Codatorta asked her.

"Yes, he must have felt something. Dragon knows that thing doesn't allow us any privacy when we are around each other or even when we're not. Faragonda would have felt something even in Alfea. The bond she had with Alfea was extremely strong to the point I wondered how I was ever supposed to keep secrets from her. At times it felt like she could read my mind."

"That really costs in privacy." Codatorta pulled her close.

"Yes…" She sobered, amusement largely vanishing from her face. "Codatorta?"

"Yes?"

"Are we in a relationship?" She looked up. "Do you want us to be in one?"

He pulled her up, looking into her golden eyes. "Why do you think I courted you? But in the end, it is your choice."

The smile she gave him was a tad sad. "It seems she wins the bet then."

"The bet?" He echoed, eyebrow rising.

"She and I had a bet going whether you would be the first man I would get in a proper relationship with. She won."

He laughed.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

They were together in the kitchen, the only room on the lower floor not visible from the street. He was leaning against the counter, arms crossed and watching her, sitting on the only chair in the small room.

"Explain." He demanded. The walk back to their house had been made in utter silence.

"Do you know of the Bond of the Schools?" She asked instead.

"The Coven told me about it."

"It is powerful and intricate magic, the likes which even you can dream off." She raised one of her hands, allowing magic to manifest around it. "Now, what is wrong with this picture?"

He blinked, reaching out with his hand. She pulled hers back, stopping the flow of magic.

"Your magic… why is it black?"

"Because I died, Baltor. This is how I knew I did. My Bond with Alfea is broken and only dead – or a strong mutual desire to do so – can accomplish that."

She rose and turned to the window. He remained where he was.

"What does that have to do with your refusal to return?"

"They too know I died, Baltor. I am dead to all those in the Magical Dimension." She explained. "Now, a month later, Alfea will have rebounded. If I were to return now, I would force Griffin and Saladin to choose between their friend and their colleague. I cannot do that to them."

"Can the bond not be broken and re-forged with you?" He asked. She looked as broken as she said the bond between her and Alfea was.

"No human being can feel enough desire to part with the power a School gives him." Faragonda turned to face him. "The only way in practice is dead." She hugged herself. "I am as lost to them as they are to me." Her blue eyes were brimming with tears. "I am dead to them."

Never had he seen her weep. The most vulnerable he had ever seen her was when he had found her sleeping on that day so many months ago. Now tears streamed down her pale skin and sobs rocked her frame. It broke his heart, but he did not know what to do. Heavens knew he had never been forced to deal with something like this before.

He sank down on his knees in front of her, resting his hands around hers. "I cannot undo what has been done, but I can try to make up for it. You just have to show me how."

She looked at him then, and this time he met her gaze with his own. Her hand, warm and soft, came to rest at his cheek.

"You truly changed." A watery, weak smile tugged at the corners of her lips. "Maybe it is for the best, Dragon knows I was Headmistress for a long time."

She pulled him to his feet. Even full of tears he found her eyes enchanting. He leaned down, slowly capturing her lips with his. She didn't pull back.


	14. Chapter 14

**Category:**** Winx Club**

**Rating:**** M **

**Couples:**** Faragonda/Baltor, Winx/respective-Specialist, Griffin/Codatorta**

**Warnings:**** AU, hints of torture, Character Death, hints of lemon **

**Chapter:**** 14**

**Copyright:**** © characters and places by Iginio; © Plot and OC by me**

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"Life continues." Griffin mused. "It is a circle that never ends."

"Are you hinting at your wedding or this one?" Saladin smiled when she growled softly.

"I will not marry, Saladin. It is for fairy's to do something like that."

"Say you, but you know he wishes for your hand." Saladin countered. "For all your magic, you are weak, Griffin."

She snorted, turning her attention to the ceremony taking place in front of them.

"Miriam told me Bloom is suffering from nightmares."

"About?"

"Faragonda. She is being consumed by guilt."

"I'm not surprised." Griffin answered. "Faragonda was always kind to her. Many are dealing with guilt." She fell silent.

"She never would have allowed you to sacrifice yourself like that." Saladin laid his hand on the arm resting next to his. "She cared too much for you to allow that. You were like a daughter to her at times."

"Dragon knows she was more motherly than any other woman I knew."

Saladin smiled. "You liked her."

"Maybe."

Cheers interrupted their soft conversation. Layla and Nabu turned to the crowd, now officially wed.

"I'm worried." Griffin said during the following assembly. "What shall we do?"

"I suppose you're referring to Alfea's state of Unbondness?"

"It has been six months, Saladin, six months! I went through the Archives; the previous record was eleven days!"

"We cannot force the Bond, Griffin. It would end in disaster."

"Lightrock will not be happy if she remains like this for much longer." Griffin shuddered. "She feels…"

"Death?" Saladin supplied. "I know, but she lives. Deep down she lives."

"Very deep down then…"

"Part of her died, Griffin. I already explained it to you; a bond, no matter how young, runs soul-deep. It merely grows with age."

"'And Faragonda's was ancient' I know, I know."

"We can do no more than wait, Griffin. This matter is out of our hands." Saladin sighed. "Let it rest. It is all you can do."

"Easier said than done." She frowned. "Cloudtower is starting to feel the lack of Alfea and through him, so do I. I am growing weaker."

"So do I." He admitted. "The daily ritual to keep Red Fountain afloat is more tiring then it was."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"I have been meaning to ask you something for quite a while now." Faragonda looked up from her book. Baltor stood in the doorway, a now almost familiar warmth in his eyes.

"Yes?"

He sat down in his favorite chair, smiling gently. "Why were you the one to come to me? Why not send Griffin or some one else?"

"You truly believe I could send some one to certain doom? For all I knew, death meant death. And death the one with you would have been." She smiled when he snorted. "Baltor, how great were the chances for you to actually fall in love?"

"I know, I know. But why agree at all?"

"For peace." She put down her book. "And to prevent more destruction."

"I never understood your protectiveness." He mused. "I thought it a weakness."

"But?" She prompted, looking at him expectantly.

"The desire is strong." He laughed. "Self-preservation is reduced to a minimum. It is dangerous, and yet…" His hand came to rest on his heart. "it feels right."

"And that was where you were weak." Faragonda rose from her seat. "You did not understand that desire and misjudged it. To your own doom."

"One-way ticket Omega Dimension." He chuckled, following her into the kitchen. "Did you ever do something like that?"

Since their kitchen was invisible from the street, opening to the small garden, she used magic to prepare dinner. It still unsettled him to see pure black weave its' way around the small room.

"Once; when Saladin's wife, Helixa, fell to the army of the Coven. It was before your time. They had ambushed us and killed her. I was raging mad, nearly incinerating my Bond with Alfea to the point where Saladin and the then-Headmaster of Cloudtower, Ragon, thought it had been I who had died." She grew sad. "They found me not soon after. The army was death, Helixa was death and only I remained, standing in the middle of it all. They later told me that they had been terrified of me then."

"You destroyed an army!" He was shell-shocked. Warm, gentle Faragonda, epitome of Good, had slaughtered an army!

"In one attack. This is why the Coven probably warned you to kill me first. They knew what had happened; how could they not? And they feared me for it." She smiled weakly. "Why do you think their every effort towards Miriam and the others was capture and towards me death? They wanted to get me out of the way. They feared the power I commanded."

"This is entirely too much for me." He rubbed his temple. "Was it the Bond that allowed you to do that?"

"No, my power-source before Alfea became it. That was the reason why Alfea choose me before I even gained my Charmix. My power is dangerous, Baltor. By all accounts, I should have been a witch more evil than the Coven."

"Great Lord, how old were you?" Baltor had the feeling he would need a lot of anti-headache stuff once this conversation was over.

"Sixteen, not a month ago having transformed for the first time." She directed some more knives to cut the vegetables, unwilling to look at him. It took a lot to answer his questions.

"And Alfea choose you? At age sixteen with barely any control over your powers?"

"She did, deeming it safer if I learned to control magic without having to use my own." Faragonda rested her hand on the cool surface of the counter. "It merely deepened our bond; both my Charmix and my Enchantix were based on the power of Alfea, not my own. I don't even know whether I could use them now."

"You speak of danger, but you never told me what was that dangerous." He moved closer, seeing her tense. Somehow he was sure it was not because of his closeness, but because of his question. "Faragonda, we live together and Dragon knows whether it might grow into something more… I have a right to know; why are you that dangerous? Why did Alfea deem it safer to bond to an un-experienced fairy that had yet to finish puberty than to wait until she was older? What power can destroy an army in one attack?"

"I never told any one." She whispered, trying to move away from him. He stopped her, holding her arm firmly. "Don't ask this of me, Baltor. You might not like the answer."

"Tell me anyway." He demanded. "You cannot stop half-way, Faragonda. Tell me."

She did not. She lifted her hand, bringing it between their faces. A small ball of energy formed on her fingertip, the size of a pearl. She brought it down, brushing the plant standing next to them on her way.

Baltor's eyes widened as he watched it happen. The moment the ball touched it, it seemed as if the plant withered away. In seconds it was death, as if it had gone for months without water.


	15. Chapter 15

**Category:**** Winx Club**

**Rating:**** M **

**Couples:**** Faragonda/Baltor, Winx/respective-Specialist, Griffin/Codatorta**

**Warnings:**** AU, hints of torture, Character Death, hints of lemon **

**Chapter:**** 15**

**Copyright:**** © characters and places by Iginio; © Plot and OC by me**

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"What…" He touched the plant. "What did you do?"

"I killed it." Faragonda reached up to remove his hand from her arm. "I am the fairy of Death." His hand was like a vice as he remained staring at the plant. "Baltor?" His silence terrified her. "Release me." She could not read his eyes as he turned to look at her. "Baltor?"

She gasped as he pulled her close, his lips pressing against hers. Her arms snaked around his neck. For a second he wavered before deepening the kiss even more.

"Thank you." She whispered.

"I loved you when I got to know you, Faragonda. I'm afraid it will take a lot more to change that." He stole another kiss.

She smiled warmly. "I'm not sure whether I should be touched or horrified."

He snickered. "Same here. You kissed me, my Siren."

"Siren?" She echoed.

"You are to me." He stroked her back. "Allow me." His breath was hot on her skin, setting of a reaction in her body which she had not felt for ages.

She forced him to look at her, looking into those blue eyes. "Do not make me regret this, Baltor."

"Never." He pressed his body against hers, reveling in the feel of possession it gave him. She was his, willingly… And somehow, that felt more right than anything else.

She shivered as his desire flooded her being. Months had passed since he had admitted his feelings to her, and he had been awfully sweet and gentle during those. She had to admit; she had come to like him, and – Dragon forbid – dare she say it, love him.

"Gentle…" She breathed when his hands locked around her arms. "Gentle, Sorcerer, otherwise this won't work."

"I don't know how." He said. "I never before desired this."

She laughed softly. "You can overthrow planets, but not love a woman?"

"I got lessons in the one, but not the other." He smiled.

"No doubt…" She pressed a gentle kiss on his lips. "Let's have diner, and then I will show you how to do it."

"I would like that very much." He reluctantly released her, watching her move through the kitchen. "Great Dragon, you test my self-control, Siren."

She chuckled. "I'm stuck with that name now, am I not?"

He stroked the bare skin of her arm. "Blame yourself for that."

"I don't even do anything to be your Siren!" She turned. "What would you say if I would call you 'Sorcerer' all the time?"

"I would say I'm disappointed by your lack of fantasy. Surely you can find something nicer?"

"Who says I want to give you a name anyway?" A swift flick of her wrist and the food floated on two dishes. "Come then, my Sorcerer."

She laughed when he growled.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"You are tense." Codatorta said. "What is wrong?"

She was sitting at the table in her private rooms, reading some texts. He was studying her, leaning against the wall.

"I run a school, Codatorta." She narrowed her eyes at him. "And your constant visits don't help me at all."

"For Dragon's Sake, Griffin, since when do you care so much for appearances?" He moved behind her. "Everyone by now knows we're in a relationship."

"Exactly!" She turned in her seat. "Do you even know how much privacy I have? And now the entire dimension is nosing in my love-life!"

"You are famous. What did you expect?"

"Not this. I'm exhausted." She sagged in her chair. "I didn't have any peace since she left."

"Can't you take a vacation?" He gently kneaded her tense shoulders. "Surely Cloudtower can manage without you for a while?"

"And what do you suppose I should do?" She sighed in pleasure when his hands found a particularly nasty knot below her shoulder-blade. "Bore myself to death?"

"No, relax. Go to one of those vacation-resorts, lay in the sun."

"And turn Pine-green." She dryly added. "That's a no-can-do, Codatorta."

"It might suit you." He chuckled. "Come then. I know something else to relax you."

"I can't right now." She hardly resisted when he pulled her up. "I have work to do."

"Indeed, your newest job; rest." He pulled her out of the room. "Come."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"I don't know, Helia." Flora looked at him. They were walking in the park in the south of Magix. "It is a pretty big step."

"You virtually live at Red Fountain anyway, only returning to your apartment to sleep." Helia said. "My mother and father had their own rooms on the campus; you can simply pick one of them."

"But I would be the only woman on campus." Flora absentmindedly allowed her hand to brush the bushes alongside the path.

"As was my mother. You would hardly have interaction with the school itself, and only if you desire it." Helia explained. "But if you truly don't want it…"

"I still need to think about it." She turned her attention back to him. "What says Principal Saladin about this?"

"How often did we tell you to simply call him Saladin?" Helia chuckled. "You're only one ceremony away from being his niece-in-law." He lifted her hand, kissing the silver ring she wore. "I'm certain he won't mind: he was the one who suggested it."

"It will be quite a change." Flora mused. "Are the rooms open?"

"Very; my mother loved the sun and uncle had to make the windows greater." Helia chuckled. "Your flowers might even need another room for shade."


	16. Chapter 16

**Category:**** Winx Club**

**Rating:**** M **

**Couples:**** Faragonda/Baltor, Winx/respective-Specialist, Griffin/Codatorta**

**Warnings:**** AU, hints of torture, Character Death, hints of lemon **

**Chapter:**** 16**

**Copyright:**** © characters and places by Iginio; © Plot and OC by me**

**Author's Note:**** Yes, it says the story is finished, but that's because there is a sequel coming due to a time-skip I'm unwilling to have in this story (it's quite a big one). I hope you'll all read the sequel too :)**

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"I never thought I'd see the day where you would be shy." Faragonda chuckled.

A faint blush tinged his cheeks. "I never expected this to happen." He carefully touched her bare arm, stroking the soft skin.

She caught his hand, moving it to her chest. "You didn't seem to have a problem with this when you used force…"

He almost winced as she reminded him of that time. "I didn't care about you then."

"And now you do." She finished his sentence, moving closer to him. He could feel the warmth of her skin through her dress. "Learning includes trying. Try it, Baltor, I will guide you."

"But what if…?"

"Sh…" She rested her finger on his lips. "It won't come that far. Have a bit of faith in my ability to kick your ass if necessary."

He chuckled now. "Very well."

"Touch me. Learn." Her lips were soft on his, unleashing desire in his body. "Maybe you will become as skilled a lover as you are a charmer."

"Maybe…" He gently pressed his lips against her bare shoulder. It was the last word either of them spoke for the next few hours.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"How far along are you?" Saladin asked, studying the witch across from him.

"About a month." Unconsciously Griffin touched her stomach. She didn't show yet, but she already felt different.

"Have you told Codatorta already?"

"No, I'm not certain how to bring this up." She gestured to the window from which one could see Cloudtower. "I'm not even certain how we could organize this."

"You will keep the child?" Saladin raised his eyebrow.

"We both know what Cloudtower means by this." She rose, pacing the room. "I'm more worried about the reactions of the public."

"I see your point." Saladin agreed. "The newspapers are already bursting with speculation about you and him."

"What is your advice?" She turned to the older man.

"Talk to Codatorta first, Griffin, any decision you make has to made with him."

"I always hated how much you seemed to agree with Faragonda." Griffin snarled.

"With good reason. He is the child's father, or so I hope." Saladin swiftly blocked the attack she threw at him.

"Are you implying I would cheat on him?" Golden eyes shone with anger.

"No." Black eyes met the golden ones with a steady gaze.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"You caught yourself quite the price, demon." Baltor was floating in darkness and the voice seemed to come from everywhere around him.

"Who speaks with me?" He demanded, turning to look for the source of the voice.

"A part of you, which was cleansed months ago on the night you saved the woman you had come to love." The voice answered. "And on this night, when you had been given the full measure of the extent of your price, I choose to speak to you. It is a first for the both of us; I never spoke with my bearers and you were never spoken to through your own mind."

"Your… bearers?" As if to answer him, light erupted behind Baltor. He gasped as he saw what had appeared.

The spectral Dragon moved closer. "You bear my flame, Baltor, the Dragonfire. But it was tainted with darkness before you were created from it. But unlike other powers, the Dragonfire can cleanse itself of any taint, thanks to the Flame of Life."

"But I never…"

The dragon wove around Baltor, again and again. "Intend is not necessary for the Flame of Live to do its' work. Faragonda realized this almost immediately after she found out you had healed her."

"So why do you speak to me?"

"The Bond between a school and their Head is strong and runs soul-deep. Faragonda told you about the added depth of her Bond."

"What does this have to do with me?"

The dragon stopped, looking at the sorcerer. "You are a demon. She is not. Yet the Bond says to her body that you are one of few."

"One of few?" Baltor was thoroughly confused.

"Heads do not bear children as easily as other humans do; only a few women and men can have children with them and although Faragonda's bond is broken, that still applies to her as well." Shining golden eyes studied the man in front of them. "She will bear your children, but regardless of her power and appearance, she is too old to do so safely."

"She will die anew?" Baltor exclaimed, fear and worry written clearly on his face.

"If she were to get pregnant as she is."

Suddenly it seemed as if he was floating above the bed he and she lay in. He had his arm around her waist, while she was sleeping on his shoulder.

"Luckily for the both of you, healing her with a rejuvenating spell still cast upon her has had a interesting side-effect; she is as young as she looks and while it still will be considered a shape-change, it will be permanent to the point where it will cost her energy to be her 'normal' self again."

"And you invaded me mind to tell me that?" Baltor looked at the serpentine body taking up most of the room.

"Among others."

"What's the rest?"

Golden eyes burst to life. "She gave you a second chance, Baltor, she will not give you another. Always remember this. If you betray her even once, you will lose her."


End file.
